Ang Soo Hoon, 40, admitted to strangling Ms Celine Ng Swee Peng, taking $1,000 belonging to her and giving a false account of her disappearance to the police.

PHOTO: ST

SINGAPORE - A derivatives dealer who killed her close friend and flatmate four years ago, then dumped her body and put up a pretence to throw others off the scent, was sentenced to 12-1/2 years' jail on Thursday.

She came clean only after Ms Ng's skeletal remains were found in a forested area in Clementi on July 5, 2011, 41 days after the killing. An autopsy was unable to determine how she died.

On Thursday, the boyish-looking Ang, who had an intimate relationship with Ms Ng, admitted that on May 26, 2011, Ms Ng, who had just celebrated her 36th birthday, wanted to kill herself in the West Coast condominium where they lived.

Ang said Ms Ng asked her to "help her die" but when the attempt was unsuccessful, called her "useless". Ang said that she was so enraged by the insult that she armlocked and strangled her friend of 16 years.

Over the next two days, Ang drove around Singapore trying to find a place to dispose Ms Ng's body. She then lied to Ms Ng's family to make them believe that she could have gone overseas.

She kept up the act by making phone calls to locate the "missing" woman and even accompanied Ms Ng's mother to lodge a missing person's report.

On Thursday, Deputy Public Prosecutor David Khoo noted that the circumstances of the killing was based solely on Ang's version as the cause of death could not be objectively ascertained.

He pointed out that Ms Ng did not show any suicidal tendencies as she was jovial, had just celebrated her birthday and bought the condo eight months prior to her death.

Ang's lawyer, Mr Sunil Sudheesan, who submitted testimonials attesting to her being a gentle, mild-mannered and kind person, said the killing was out of character.

selinal@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 16, 2015. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.